23-Year Old Fresh IT Graduate Admits Hacking COMELEC Website

The website of Commission on Elections (COMELEC) was hacked late Sunday evening on March 27, 2016. The hacktivist, Anonymous PH, posted a message asking the COMELEC to make sure the PCOS have security features in place. Hours later, another group, Lulzsec Pilipinas, claimed to have hacked the Comelec’s database and leaked it on Facebook. They have confirmed that both website and database had been breached but the commission was still verifying if the leak had been done.

Three weeks later, April 20, 2016, a 23-year-old fresh from college information technology graduate admitted that he hacked the COMELEC website leading to the biggest leak of personal data in Philippine history. The suspect was arrested in his home in Sampaloc, Manila. His accomplices still at large. COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista confirmed that the suspect is in the custody of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Chief of NBI Cybercrime Division, Ronald Aguto Jr. said that the suspect did not admit of his crime and opted to remain silent about the issue. The suspect was actually very cooperative and possibly has an intention to help the agency. NBI official added that based on their investigations, the suspect wanted to show the vulnerability of the website and did not mean any harm.